Bidirectional and longitudinal associations between academic motivation and vocational indecision

Vocational indecision has been found to be either a predictor or a consequence of academic motivation, but no study has examined whether the two processes share reciprocal links. Three academic motivation orientations have been found to contribute to these two processes: autonomous (i.e., going to school for the pleasure to learn or for the personally valued reasons), controlled (i.e., going to school to alleviate internal or external pressures) and amotivation (i.e., going to school without purpose). The goal of the present study was to test reciprocal and longitudinal links between each of these three motivation orientations and vocational indecision. This longitudinal study used a sample of 584 secondary school students (55% girls) surveyed annually over a 4-year period, where the effect of vocational indecision on each academic motivation orientation and the effect of each academic motivation on vocational indecision were estimated simultaneously. These links were tested both at interindividual (i.e., students are compared with each other) and intraindividual levels (i.e., students are compared to themselves). Results of cross-lagged models indicate that vocational indecision was negatively predicted by autonomous academic motivation but not vice versa, and that this link appeared only at the intraindividual level. Also, vocational indecision simultaneously predicted and was predicted by controlled academic motivation and academic amotivation at both levels. These results suggest that guidance counsellors could support the emergence and maintenance of autonomous motivation in students, to help them make a vocational decision. Also, the scope of their action could extend to school retention, as actions taken to support vocational decision-making could affect students’ motivation to engage or stay in school.